Growing up, Jonathan and Steve Banta didn’t realize there was anything special about Dad.

So he liked to fool around on guitar and sing a few songs? No big deal. As they grew older, though, they grew wiser after seeing their father, Jake Banta, entertain thousands with his band Jake’s Blues.
“People were so amazed by what he played, and for us it was kind of like normal,” said Steve Banta, 22. “I mean, it wasn’t until we got older that we realized how crazy it was, what he was doing. We were just little kids, listening to him play Stevie Ray Vaughan, like it’s nothing. Then, all of a sudden, we realized, ‘You can’t really do that.’”
Today, father and sons play music; it’s a family passion handed down like a treasured gift.
Jonathan Banta, 25, plays acoustic gigs with his father at assorted venues, including Sprague Farm and Brew Works in Venango, not far from Jake Banta’s log-cabin home, which he built himself.
Vintage blues, classic rock, recent fare by Stone Temple Pilots — it’s all fair game.
“He’s getting it,” said proud dad Jake Banta, 47. “He’s learning, and it makes it fun for me to improvise. And he plays solos, as well.
See Sunday’s Erie Times-News and GoErie.com for more coverage.